Strainer for teapots



Jan. 13, 1931. I D. M. APPL EGATE 1,783,760

STRAINER FOR TEAPOTS Filed Feb. 26, 1930 jnzrento'r: I Doroifiy Elsie may zcyaie.

B1 1 Atty:

Patented Jan. 13, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT-OFFICE DOROTHY ELSIE MAY APPLEGATE, or BAMPTON, ENGLAND STRAIN-ER! FOR TEAIPOTS Application filed February 26, 1930, Serial No. 431,577, and in Great Britain March 4, 1929.- 1

This invention relates to strainers for tea pots and other vessels, its object being to provide an improved and simplified construction which can be readily manufa'c- 5 tured from sheet metal of appropriate nature such that when formed into the desired shape it will be suificiently resilient to engage in the wall of the vessel, say at the bottom of the spout in a teapot or the like,

0 and hold therein firmly without extraneous means.

According to my invention I stamp out from suitable material a central piece provided with a series of radial slots forming a W member having a number of radial arms and the circular part I perforate to form a strainer.

This member is then suitably shaped somewhat, for example, like a champagne p cork, such that the ends of the arms can be sprung into the aperture into which the strainer is to fit, andowing to the resilient nature of the material employed will cause the strainer to be retained without further means. I

I may prefer to have the centre part of the stamped out plate somewhat convex in relation to the aperture into which it is'to fit and the arms, of which there may be any convenient number, are first bent down then a little vup again so providing a groove to engage the wall of the aperture the free end of the arms then being again slightly bent downwards so that there may be no difficulty in pushing them into the aperture, where such aperture is awkward to get at. And in order that my said invention may be more clearly understood I will now describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a side elevation of a strainer constructed according to the present invention. Figure 2 is an end or face view there- F of. Figure Sis a side elevation of a part of a teapot the strainer in position therein. Referring to the drawings the strainer consists of a circular piece of disc 1 formed of appropriate material perforated as shown at 2 and. the disc 1 is provided with a p1urality of arms 3 extending laterally therefrom as shown in Figure 1.

The disc 1 may be somewhat convex in rei i lation to the aperture into which it is to fit and there may be any convenient number of arms. V

hen constructing the device a number of radial slots 4 and the central circular portion are formed in a blank sheet of material. By making the slots 4 the arms 3 are formed which are then firstbent down, then a little up again so providing a groove 5 to engage the well of the aperture-6 of the teapot or it might be other vessel'and the free ends of the arms 3 are then slightly bent downwards .1 I

or-inwards towards one another so that there will be no difiiculty in pushing them into the aperture, where such aperture is awkward to get at.

The device may be made by stamping or pressing the perforations 2 and the slots 4 or'the device may be pressed out and the slots cut afterwards. Or the device may be sprung and the'slots cut afterwards. Or a spring frame be made as above and a perforated disc or a ring carrying wire or other gauze pressed or otherwise fixed therein.

As a modification some of the arms 3 may be formed straight that is to say without a groove 5 whilst the remainder may be formed as hereinbefore described. Further, all the arms 3 may be unprovided with a groove 5 as will be readily understood.

7 Such a device can be fitted and work satisfactorily within reasonable limits of the size of the aperture for with pottery teapots and such like vessels owing to the construe-- tion of the clay apertures vary somewhat while the cost of manufacture is almost ne ligible. V

T claim:

A strainer for teapots and other vessels wherein the arms are first bent downwards then up to form a groove to engage the edge of the aperture the free ends of said arms being afterwards bent downwards or inwards towards one another. e 

